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Do you know easy ways to study vocabulary words?
Reading the words and their definition a few times each night is certainly better than
your prior tactic of trying to cram all of that information in five minutes before the
test.
So how do I study vocabulary words?
Write down the word and its definition a few times.
That strikes me as torture. Like when teachers punish you by making you write something a
hundred times.
But it does create a memorable experience. Writing something a dozen times will help
etch it into your brain.
I could type it faster.
Studies have found that the process of reading it and then writing it, especially if you
write it summarized or in your own words, improves retention. When you have to think
about it, it is more likely to stay in your brain.
That reminds me of homework.
That is probably why they assigned homework in the first place. Repetition improves retention.
The hard part is that vocabulary is linked to reading comprehension. Rarely do they ask
you to match words to definition but write it out or recognize it in a different sentence.
That's where writing it in your own words helps you understand the idea in all its forms.
It is a pity I can't have vocabulary bees the way we did spelling bees when I was a
kid.
You could do flash card games with a friend.
What about on a computer?
Unless you are studying vocabulary from a commonly assigned literary work, you'll have
to create your own.
I don't have to create that Flash game on top of everything else.
Write it down on index cards.
You're making this hard.
At least with index cards and drilling, you only have to write each word and its definition
once.